http://www.sanantoniotrade.org/sister-cities-program.html

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Carver Communications - Index

Carver Communications - 8.1.08 - Index

As many of you may already
know, the San Antonio Board of
REALTORS® will be implementing a
new MLS system over the next few
months. On August 4th, 2008,
ConnectMLS, provided by
dynaConnections, will begin to run
parallel with the current system,
Paragon that is provided by Fidelity
National Information System. The two
systems will run side-by-side during
the months of August and September,
and October 1st will be the official
changeover to ConnectMLS. All listing
entry will be done through Paragon
during the parallel time, with updates
being made to ConnectMLS several
times a day.
During this two month period,
there will be many training sessions to
bring everyone up to speed with the
new system. The training sessions will
last 1 ? hours with an additional ? hour
for questions. For those who want a
more in-depth and fast-paced instruction
on how to use ConnectMLS,
By Bob Leonard
Chairman, San Antonio Board of REALTORS®
MLS Conversion right around the corner
advanced courses will be offered during
August and September. Logon to
sabor.com to see a complete list of
dates and times for all training sessions.
The new MLS system has many
features that will enhance usability for
REALTORS®. ConnectMLS runs on
new technology and has a remarkable
response time. In addition to system
speed, ConnectMLS has built-in tutorials
throughout each function. Our
new product will also utilize "Property
Info" by REIdata. "Property Info" has
public records in a format that gives
users many more search capabilities,
one of which will be the ability to
search public records by subdivision
for those counties that provide it. In
addition to tax data/public records for
Bexar, Comal, Kendall and Guadalupe
counties, the following counties will
be added for the new MLS: Bandera,
Medina, Atascosa and Wilson.
In addition to all of these features,
REALTORS® should also take
August 1, 2008 REAL ESTATE NEWSLINE 3
note that ConnectMLS will only allow
for one login per name and password
issued. For this reason, it is critical all
REALTORS® who have an unlicensed
or licensed clerical assistant fill out a
form and register his/her assistant with
the Membership Department as soon as
possible. This form can be found on
sabor.com. An e-mail will be sent to
the unlicensed assistant with a user
name and password. It is important to
have a valid e-mail address on file with
SABOR to make sure this information
is sent to the right place. If the unlicensed
assistant does not have an email
address, his/her user name and
password will be sent to the REAL-
TOR® who is a member of the MLS.
If you have any questions concerning
the new MLS system or the
unlicensed clerical form, contact the
SABOR Member Services department
at 210/593-1200.
Bob Leonard Chosen to be
on Sister City Task Force
In early July, I was asked to participate
on Mayor Phil Hardberger's
Task Force to identify a "Sister City"
to San Antonio in mainland China and
represent the real estate industry in the
decision. The goal of the Sister City
relationship is to establish communications
between municipalities to promote
economic, cultural and educational
exchanges.
The plan for the Task Force is to
identify a city in mainland China that
would be a great economic and cultur-
al partner. China is emerging as a
world economic power in areas where
San Antonio is gaining strength, such
as technology and medicine. We are
charged with finding a city that has
similar goals to San Antonio that we
can share and profit from together.
These goals can be cultural as well and
we are looking not only for a good
economic sister, but a city as beautiful
as San Antonio.
Sister Cities International (SCI)
is a national initiative begun by
Dwight D. Eisenhower shortly after
World War II, to develop economic,
cultural and technical exchanges
between US cities, counties, and states
with corresponding communities
worldwide. The goal of the Sister
Cities program is to involve people and
organized groups at all levels of society,
establishing productive, people-topeople
relationships through global
community partnerships and volunteer
action (City of San Antonio,
International Affairs Department,
Sister Cities Web site).
We have a number of cities
under consideration and are currently
discussing them one by one for a consensus.
The hope is to have the
process finished, the city identified
and an agreement signed by late this
year.
For more information about this
program in San Antonio, I invite you to
visit www.sanantoniotrade.org/sistercities-program.html